Tony Albert: PAY ATTENTION

Alongside City Gallery’s current main gallery exhibition roundabout°, the Deane Gallery is running a pair of exhibitions by young indigenous Australian artists which deal specifically with the contentious issue of race relations in Australia.

Following Vernon Ah Kee’s solo project, the Deane Gallery is excited to host Brisbane-based artist Tony Albert’s confrontational exhibition PAY ATTENTION. Both of these exhibitions focus on the racial division of post-colonial Australia and the often antagonistic relationship between indigenous and settler societies in this country.

Albert’s exhibition comprises large letters fixed to the gallery’s walls, which spell out a demanding expletive. Albert has worked collaboratively to produce this work, enlisting 25 of his close friends to work on the letters. Each has created a thoughtful, individual work which collectively questions the problematic notion of “authenticity” in contemporary Aboriginal art and how the work of young Aboriginal artists is valued and interpreted in the art world.

Tony Albert (b. 1981) is of the Girramay people from Cardwell, North Queensland, Australia. In 2004 Albert completed a degree in Visual Arts majoring in Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art. In 2007 he was awarded the Sunshine Coast Art Prize in Queensland. His work is held in several major public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Queensland Art Gallery–Gallery of Modern Art and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Event listed by City Gallery Wellington

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